


in her bones

by enoughiamagod



Series: Elf-Kings and Woodlands [2]
Category: The Hobbit (Jackson Movies)
Genre: Family Relationships - Freeform, Father Thranduil, Flashbacks, brother legolas, loose structure, sister tauriel, tauriel is captain of the guard
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-01-21
Updated: 2016-08-06
Packaged: 2018-03-08 13:15:09
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 661
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3210464
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/enoughiamagod/pseuds/enoughiamagod
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tauriel's experiences growing up</p><p>part of my Elf-kings and Woodlands series, so if you like this, check out the other parts!</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Before

**Author's Note:**

> starts before the Hobbit movies, who knows where it will end  
> an expansion of my Thranduil stories, and a general exploration of the Mirkwood elves.  
> do not own.  
> will update

 

Tauriel doesn’t remember much of Before. She catches glimpses in her dreams, perhaps, of a redheaded elf lady with a gentle smile and a tall dark elf with olive skin and gold eyes, and she does not assume these are her parents. That would put faces to the nameless ache she feels sometimes, the ache that reminds her that no matter how much her father loves her, there were others Before who loved her just as much. She is grateful to Thranduil her father, and loves Legolas as a brother, but she longs for more. She wants to see the woodlands and Imladis and Gondor. She wants to see men and the ocean, not just the forest where she roams and the court where she pretends to be happy all dolled up and stuffed into dresses that make her feel trapped.

This wanderlust she can only assume is a gift from her parents, born into her blood. For Legolas seems content to remain under his father, diligent and obedient.

Tauriel can never do that. She is too restless, too reckless, too eager to think and do and be.

 

Her bow shifts in her hands and she exhales, waiting. The tension in the string hums and she listens, intently.

Her release is perfect, and silent.

A second later the thump of an arrow landing breaks the silence and Legolas cries out in glee.

“Tauriel, another perfect shot!”

She smiles at him, raising one eyebrow.

“But of course, brother. I am not Captain of the Guard because of my good looks.” The sibling banter continues and Tauriel feels that here, with Legolas, she can breathe.

It has never been the same with Thranduil.


	2. water cannot flow home

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> do not own

 

Once when she was little her father sang to her, his voice clear and strong like the rocks that tumbled along the banks of the river, and she closed her eyes and laid on his chest. He had cradled her, hushed her the way fathers do, soothing the hurt with a gentle hand and gentle eyes. He had known everything, she thought, would always know everything, would always hold her so that she could hear his steady heartbeat.

 

That he was not all knowing, she could hardly believe. Her father? Never. But he did not know what he refused to see, what he closed his eyes to.

 

She loves her father, and she misses him, but his eyes had been shut and she could not pretend to be blind anymore ( _I couldn’t,_ she insists to herself. _It was my duty_.) She could not have stayed. But she still misses him.

  
That he would never gather her close again, that his pride would not let him, that if she were to return and go to him and cry _Ada, Ada it is I, I who have wronged you, I have returned_ , his eyes would stay cold and he would turn away, one hand held up in disdain? This, she had no problem believing in at all. 


	3. heartwood

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Musings

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> do not own, sorry I've been gone so long

 

Tauriel hardens herself, hardens her heart. She cannot go home, she has no home.  _ Perhaps this is my destiny _ , she thinks.  _ After all, I was found alone in the woods. Perhaps I will die alone in the woods. _

She thinks of the way her father’s face looked when she dared to defy him, dared to challenge him. How the hurt had collapsed into the composed lines of her king, how that dismissal had stung more than anything else she knew. 

_ Legolas would know, _ she remembers, seeing in her mind his blond hair flashing as he strode angrily out of their father’s chambers. He looked so much like Thranduil then, so much, yet his hair was blonde, not ice, and his face softer and sweeter, and she feels a pang.  _ I miss my brother. _

They had grown together, fought together, dreamed together of families and spouses and the future, and she misses his counsel.

 

_ Brother mine, will we ever be united again? _

 

She fears the answer.


End file.
